VIMS gearing up for third wave, says Director

‘Number of beds and oxygen supply increased to meet the anticipated rush of COVID patients’

Authorities from the Visakha Institute of Medical Sciences (VIMS) are gearing up for the possible COVID-19 third wave, which is presumed to see a peak in October.

Apart from increasing the number of beds, the officials have also increased the supply of oxygen to meet the requirement at the VIMS, one of the State-nodal COVID-19 hospitals, which treats high-risk cases from Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram, Srikakulam and East Godavari districts.

According to VIMS Director K. Rambabu, they used to have 10 KL oxygen tank. In addition to that, they have installed 20 KL oxygen tank on the premises, which is yet to be officially inaugurated. Pipeline works for the new oxygen tanker have also been completed, he said.

As a backup, the VIMS has around 100 oxygen cylinders. The State government is providing another 330 new oxygen cylinders, which are adequate. “Apart from them, we also have 32 oxygen concentrators in the hospital,” he added.

“We had around 200 ICU beds and 200 oxygenated beds. For the possible third wave, we will add 200 more oxygenated beds, taking the total bed strength to 600,” Dr. Rambabu added.

Sufficient staff

As of now, the VIMS has around 500 health staff, including specialist doctors, over 200 staff nurses, 40 technical staff and more than 180 FNOs/MNOs. The authorities say that staff would be sufficient.

Dr. Rambabu said that as of now, there are no plans to have paediatric care at VIMS. However keeping in view of the situation and instructions from higher authorities, they would initiate steps, he added.

According to the VIMS authorities, during the second wave, around 2,900 patients from the four districts were treated. During the first wave, the State nodal hospital has treated around 2,700 patients, apart from organising C-section and normal deliveries of over 100 COVID-affected pregnant women.

With the decline in the COVID cases, there are fewer than 10 patients being treated in the hospital as on date. VIMS is also running out-patient services in some blocks keeping in view the demand from people.

1 death, 100 new cases

The district reported 98 new COVID infections in the last 24 hours ending Wednesday morning taking the cumulative to 1,55,057. The number of daily-infections has outnumbered daily recoveries. Only 78 persons recovered from the virus in the last 24 hours. The district also saw one more death, taking the toll to 1,071. The number of recoveries and active cases stands at 1,52,731 and 1,255 respectively.

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